HOME OFFICE Minister Bob Ainsworth has praised the Manchester Evening News for its vital help in tackling gun crime.

Before meeting community and youth leaders in Moss Side, Mr Ainsworth said the M.E.N. was playing a major role at the start of a month-long national firearms amnesty.

"I am very happy with what the Manchester Evening News is doing," he said, "as it is particularly helpful at a time when we all need to support the police with the guns amnesty.

"When there is a serious problem like gun crime, you need a level of expertise to tackle that problem and when that happens, it can be very effective.

"It is vitally important to support the community and the M.E.N. has done that in a way that will give people greater confidence and let them know they are not alone."

Mr Ainsworth, who met members of the Manchester multi-agency gang strategy at the Millennium Power House, added: "Every gun that is taken off the street will be a tribute to the efforts being made to tackle the problem."

The minister met the mother of one gun victim - 20-year-old Dorrie McKie, who was shot and killed in Hulme in 1999.

Funding

His mother Patsy, a member of the Mothers Against Violence group, said she was anxious to speak to Mr Ainsworth about funding.

Mrs McKie, who has just returned from Boston, Massachusetts, where she met mothers from a similar organisation, said: "If we can get funding, it would allow us the flexibility we need to tackle issues like gun crime at root level.

"That means going into schools, talking to parents and working closely with youths so that we develop an understanding of what they want."

Mr Ainsworth added: "I welcome this opportunity to hear first hand about what is happening in Manchester communities.

"I want to find out about the experiences of local people, the specific problems facing the city and the work that is being done to address them."